Eight Bangladeshi workers cleared over 'cricket brawl' at Kaki Bukit dormitory

Police arrest 35 foreign workers involved in a fight at Homestay Residences at Kaki Bukit Avenue 3 on March 25, 2014. Eight Bangladeshi workers have been cleared of the dormitory riot - which is thought to have erupted over the result of a cricket ma
Police arrest 35 foreign workers involved in a fight at Homestay Residences at Kaki Bukit Avenue 3 on March 25, 2014. Eight Bangladeshi workers have been cleared of the dormitory riot - which is thought to have erupted over the result of a cricket match. -- SHIN MIN FILE PHOTO

SINGAPORE - Eight Bangladeshi workers have been cleared of rioting in a dormitory after a fight with another group - which is thought to have erupted over the result of a cricket match.

The eight, aged 26 to 38, were given a discharge amounting to an acquittal on Tuesday for being part of the assembly with six others to cause hurt to three Indian nationals at the Homestay Residence Dormitory.

The two groups were among 35 foreign workers who were arrested after a mass brawl broke out on March 25 at the dormitory in Kaki Bukit Avenue 3.

Police had earlier said in a statement that the fight took place during the screening of a live cricket match, understood to have been between Bangladesh and the West Indies.

The violence apparently erupted after Bangladesh lost the game.

Three other Bangladeshi workers, two aged 25 and one aged 36, had earlier been acquitted of rioting during their pre-trial conferences.

The three Indian nationals were charged with affray. Two of them - Dharmaraj Ramesh, 25, and Arumugam Velmurugan, 27 - were jailed two weeks and one week respectively for using criminal force. A third, Vengai Malar Mannan, 33, has been given a discharge amounting to an acquittal.

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